Heterogeneity among Mycobacterium ulcerans Isolates from Africa

Abstract

Mycobacterium ulcerans causes Buruli ulcer, an ulcerative skin disease in tropical and subtropical areas. Despite restricted genetic diversity, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive unit–variable-number tandem repeat analysis on M. ulcerans revealed 3 genotypes from different African countries. It is the first time this typing method succeeded directly on patient samples.

Keywords

• Mycobacterium ulcerans
• Buruli ulcer
• genotyping
• Africa
• heterogeneity
• dispatch